LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Topic: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White (Read 32009 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #60 – March 02, 2021, 12:55:37 PM

It's been a while, but I've just had some time off work so had chance to catch up on some well overdue maintenance.

To summarise, the car has been off the road now for almost a year since I've been working from home since last March due to COVID. Being left and neglected has taken its toll and I've been suffering with damp carpets. After ruling out every other option I was left convinced the bottom of the screen area could be rotten.

And damp over winter hasn't just effected the interior:

Firstly I needed to get the screen out to check the state of the metal underneath, to do this I needed the car in the dry so I had to reconfigure the garage and temporarily re-home mine and my sons motorbikes.

In over 11 years of living in this house it's only the 2nd time a car has been in the garage.

It's a very small garage, so OK for storage but not really suitable for working. Anyway, I started to slowly work my way around the windscreen seal and was about a quarter the way round when it cracked from behind the mirror

I shan't dwell on that, but continued to remove it carefully to avoid it shattering.

The plus side was that on removal no big hole was found and I wasn't going to spend the rest of my week cutting, welding and painting like I thought I would.

To be honest, this is the best windscreen aperture I've ever seen on one:

Even around the drain:

The blue/green stuff is this:

Like Kurust but cheaper and I thought if it's good enough for the Land Rover guys it'll be good enough for me. I think it takes longer to go off than Kurust, but that might just be the cold weather.

Anyway, with the area all cleaned up and treated, I needed to source a new screen. £77.50 from Heritage, so I checked with Mark Carter of Classic-VW and he said he dosen't bother stocking them just uses National Windscreens. Thinking that was not such a bad idea as I didn't have to take on the responsibility of fitting and risk a potential break again.

So I made a call and booked a slot for next day. I was also able to chose a sun-strip so went with Green (blue was available also). I got them to supply a new seal but when the fitter arrived he said the old seal was perfectly good so reused it.

So back to the leak, if water isn't coming in from the screen then where? I checked the inner wing, and was surprised to find original wings, that had never been removed. So I decided not to remove, but inspected and felt around the bits I couldn't see.

Cleaned up, rust treated a few spots (on the whole all very good) and Waxoyled before refitting the liner.

The worse area was this spot on the chassis leg under the air filter

I checked the underside of the scuttle, to make sure where the drain goes is going back into the bulk-head side and not into the cabin. Again all good so cleaned, treated and Waxoyled. Sorry, a bit lacking with the pics.... was just busy tinkering away.

All areas checked and double checked, cleaned and sealed, resealed the bonnet cable again.... etc.

You'll also notice I took out the wiper motor and linkage for better access, so while they were off, I turned this:

Into this:

I also took the opportunity to re-wrap the loom. The old tape has turned to dust, and where it is still remaining it pretty much disintegrates on touch.

All of the loom in the scuttle is done and most of the bay before I ran out of tape.

To confirm the progress I gave the car a good wash, a 3 stage foam power wash....

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #61 – March 02, 2021, 01:45:34 PM

With no sign of water following the wash I took the gamble and started to put the insides back together.

Underlay and carpets:

And eventually dash, including fitting my new replacement Alpine and SWG console I bought for the old one but never got round to fitting.

Gotta love finding previous owner 'fixes' ...

I discovered on the re-fit that I actually have a CE1 light switch fitted.

Now I know this can be a fire hazard but I think the issue is fitting a CE2 switch in a CE1 car, thankfully the other way round is fine. I'm just missing the pin for Dim/Dip which I unplugged anyway, and the dash illumination ... I do have dash illumination but it's always been crazy dim, so I guess the switch is being bypassed in some way. New CE2 switch on order.

Test fit of the dials, of course I have "TIM" gauges rather than the predictable VDO ...

... yet to know if they work and they need to come back out for a lick of paint.

And by midweeks a big box arrived from Germany

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #62 – March 02, 2021, 02:24:13 PM

No more pics I'm afraid.

But also, brakes cleaned up and handbrake free'ed - was stuck after sitting for so long.

I re-routed the roof aerial lead as that went down the C pillar and a long the floor and needed an extension. Reception was poor, so it now goes along the roof and down the A pillar as it would have if VW had fitted, the extension is not needed and hopefully will improve radio with the wire being higher up.

I went to replace the inner spot lamp as one is chipped, I bought what I was told was drivers side off eBay months ago, turned out was passenger side so I had to refit the broken one. But good to fins out the grill has all clips in good order.

I also replace the flooded bumper indicator and broken side repeater.

The big AUTODOC box contained service items, this is the first service in my ownership, I only had it 4 or 5 months before COVID hit and the PO had assured me it had been serviced, paperwork to confirm so I didn't worry about it back then.

Fuel filter.
Mobil oil and oil filter - I've never known a filter fitted so tightly.
Sump plug had gasket sealant on, I had a spare.
Air filter, looked quite clean in line with the PO's statement about servicing.

Next I changed the Dizzy cap, rotor and leads (didn't do plugs they were out of stock, to be done some other time)
And it's at this point I ran into trouble as it now runs rough.

I refitted all the old stuff and it's still miss-firing. So further investigation required on that.

Also in the box was cam belt kit. But I didn't want to throw that into the mix yet till it's running right again.
I've also had to order a brake bias valve as mine was seized solid. Previous MOT advisories picked up on it being stiff, so I'm sure it won't pass another. So it will be a few more weeks before I present for MOT. Hoping to get it sorted through March and Taxed fro April, which will be a whole year since I first SORNed it.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #63 – March 02, 2021, 07:37:58 PM

Looking good Tim....That could could have been a good excuse for a heated screen!...but it's surprising how much the price increases when VAT, delivery, fitting and the wiring are added

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #64 – March 03, 2021, 08:50:07 AM

Great progress, how is Autodoc, post brexit?

So what made you decide on Tim gauges???

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #65 – March 03, 2021, 09:37:45 AM

I did look at heated screens but they've gone up a lot in price to what they were a few years ago. I couldn't justify it, also couldn't keep the car in the garage indefinitely, it was only a temporary home. Couldn't fault the service from National Windscreens, because of poor mobile signal and GPS where I live it took longer to process the payment than it took the guy to fit the screen.

The Autodoc order took 12 days from order to delivery, but I placed the order on a Friday so might not have been picked till Monday.
Comparing the price with ECP, Autodoc was £93, ECP was about £170 after entering the promo code. Wasn't exactly like for like due to availability of brands. I ordered on the App, which gives more favourable prices and promos, I got a free shipping deal saving about £9.

After I placed the order someone mentioned I might be hit with extra tax at customs which was a concern, but arrived tracked parcel from Royal Mail with nothing more to worry about. Because of this I've used them again to order the Brake Bias Valve I need as it was £35 delivered compared to £50 being the cheapest I could find from any other source.

Oh, and 'TIM' gauges obviously just because I wanted to see my name on then

and compared to VDO it was a sensible financial move. I know I'll have no trouble with the volts as I used it temporarily in the Beetle but yet to see the others working.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #66 – March 04, 2021, 03:20:17 PM

It's nice to take pleasure from the simple things too, I found a spare festoon bulb of the right size in my stash. I now have a working glove locker light.

In other news, 14.4 volts at the battery whilst on tick-over, albeit a very lumpy tick-over.

I feel it must be timing related although I fail to see how I moved the dizzy. I'll dig out my timing light when I get some time. I still have the cam belt to fit. Bit nervous, I've never done one by myself before, but I'd still like to get it running right before I do this just so I can rule out me introducing any more issues.

Also it's rained here yesterday and overnight. Carpets are still dry so far.... continuing to cross my fingers.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #67 – March 04, 2021, 04:05:58 PM

Interesting you mention Autodoc... I'm after a few bits'n'pieces at the moment and they pop up regularly when searching / trying to track stuff down.

Price wise they initially seem pretty competitive and do include UK VAT in their prices so you know where you are with that, but as you say there's the additional and unknown customs charges to factor in... could end up being very costly.

Odd you didn't get charged, maybe they're randomly selecting ones to check and slipped through this time?

Couriers are charging differing amounts if they have to process packages for the sender, RM are £8.00 on top of whatever you owe Her Majesty, some of the others are more again.

Core charge items like starters and alternators that have to be returned are potentially another headache... who pays the import charges when sending them back into the EU?

Autodoc don't pay the return postage, (which is unlikely to be cheap for such heavyitems) but if import taxes also fall to the buyer costs could quickly spiral.

If possible can you keep us posted on how buying from Autodoc goes, specially the import / customs side of things... you read lots of differeing opinions but it'd be very interesting to hear from someone who's actually doing it?

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #68 – March 12, 2021, 05:14:06 PM

Just a small update....

My cheap CE2 light switch finally arrived form China

TBF ... it looks pretty good. I thought the one fitted in my car must have been a cheap aftermarket switch as the surface was shiny and not lightly textured like OEM switches, but to my surprise it was a genuine VW part so I guess it's just been worn shiny over 30+ years of use. Obviously not original to the car, but must have been replaced at some point by someone that didn't know there was different kinds.

In other news, we've had some pretty appalling weather this past week, the car appears to still be dry which is great. Haven't had chance to look at my running/timing issue but the battery is now out and on charge.

Brake bias valve has arrived from Autodoc along with an exhaust rubber, so a few parts building up ready for the next wave of activity.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #69 – March 13, 2021, 10:54:09 AM

Does look the part, you'd be none the wiser without the original to compare to.

Did I read somewhere recently the older style are a potential fire risk?

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #70 – March 24, 2021, 11:58:28 AM

Have you built up the courage to do the cam belt?

I'm seriously thinking of having a stab at it, plenty of write ups seem to say it's straight forward but hard not to be daunted.

Access is good at the moment with the other bits having been taken off nearby, seems a shame not to take advantage.

There's a 'real' mechanic near to me, might get him to give things the once over afterwards if I do.

Checked all the timing marks and everything's spot on, which is just as well as the distributor is seized in solid.

Been using penetrant for a week and you can see it's soaking through in places, but still won't budge.

Ideally would like to resolve this now, even it's hopefully not needed in the near future there's no predicting further down the line when it'll become a problem.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #71 – March 24, 2021, 12:06:47 PM

Quote from: L90E on March 24, 2021, 11:58:28 AM

Have you built up the courage to do the cam belt?

I'm seriously thinking of having a stab at it, plenty of write ups seem to say it's straight forward but hard not to be daunted.

Access is good at the moment with the other bits having been taken off nearby, seems a shame not to take advantage.

There's a 'real' mechanic near to me, might get him to give things the once over afterwards if I do.

Checked all the timing marks and everything's spot on, which is just as well as the distributor is seized in solid.

Been using penetrant for a week and you can see it's soaking through in places, but still won't budge.

Ideally would like to resolve this now, even it's hopefully not needed in the near future there's no predicting further down the line when it'll become a problem.

Wouldn’t go there myself which doesn’t necessarily make it difficult ... someone suggested to me once that you get a Stanley knife and cut the old belt in half all the way around... remove the outer half and you slide the new belt on before cutting the old half off... it seemed sensible to me but I am not allowed near tools

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #72 – March 24, 2021, 12:19:56 PM

Quote from: L90E on March 24, 2021, 11:58:28 AM

Have you built up the courage to do the cam belt?

Funny you should say that, open on my desk is my Haynes manual at that exact page.

I've read it a few times and I'm quite scared. The words don't seem to make much sense, maybe would be more so if I had it in front of me. Perhaps my dyslexic brain would be better off finding a YouTube video and learn but seeing not reading.

It's stupid some of the things I have done yet I don't have the confidence with this.
I just don't get it, if I don't move it why do I need to worry about timing marks?

As for the cut in half method, I watched Fuzz do that on an episode of Car S.O.S. I have been thinking along those lines. Then change the tensioner after.

The problem still is it's not running right, so I need to get that sorted before I do the next thing otherwise I'll never know if I've done the belt right. I may have just moved the dizzy, giving the dizzy cap lips a whack (they were tight) but I just haven't had the time.

We've ordered new flooring for the hall and stairs so I have a deadline to get all the painting complete first, so that's priority at the moment. Still working from home, that's been a year as of last week. So still no real need (other than personal want) to get the car done.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #73 – March 24, 2021, 12:38:30 PM

Cam belts aren't too bad, as long as you're methodical.
Make sure then engine is times before removal, the tensioner is correct and you wind it over by hand a few times, you can't go too far wrong.

Though I understand your feeling, my first time, I think I turned over the engine about 20 times and was terrified for a day or two after.

Re: LUCY ‘91 Mk2 Golf GTI Alpine White

Reply #74 – March 24, 2021, 01:11:20 PM

How do mere mortals get this off (not my piccy)?

Read else where the 4 x bolts that hold the first pulley to it are inserted into the 4 x threaded holes that are now exposed when it's removed, presumably thereby pushing it towards you and off the shaft?

The large central nut doesn't need to be touched?